ABSTRACT
The Warsaw Pact countries, along with China and Yugoslavia, offered Hungary large amounts of emergency credit at favorable terms; almost a third of these credits were raised in convertible currency. In the decade after 1957, Hungary's national income rose by 75 percent or 5.5-6 percent annually. Industrial output rose 230 percent, or 8.5 percent per year. The growth in production created the financial basis for consolidation. A decade later, when Comecon markets grew tighter and Hungary set its sights on the advanced industrial countries, particularly in Western Europe, it turned out that the country's rapidly developed industries offered little in the way of export opportunities. The standard of living also rose considerably. In the ten years leading up to 1967, the real wage per employee increased 130 percent, or 2.6 percent annually. The new leadership retained plan directives as the keystone of a planned economy and as protection against the anarchy of the market.
